The Hindu 20.02.2010
Urban transport: city may emerge as model
Shankar Bennur
| World Bank has chosen the city for its ambitious project |
Sustainable Urban Transport Project to be implemented in the city
‘The project in Mysore will focus on intelligent transport system’
MYSORE: Mysore may soon emerge as a model for other Indian cities and perhaps for some European cities too in development of sustainable urban transport modes.
For, the World Bank has chosen Mysore along with four other cities for its ambitious project on sustainable urban transport.
The World Bank and the Government of India signed an agreement in the first week of the month to promote sustainable urban transport in five cities under the Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP).
Other cities
The other cities chosen for implementing the project are Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
Managing Director of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Gaurav Gupta told The-Hindu that the Rs. 21-crore project to be implemented here would be partly funded by the World Bank.
Funds
While the World Bank would provide Rs. 9 crore, the Union Ministry of Urban Development would provide Rs. 12 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the project.
Incidentally, Mysore is the second city in the State after Bangalore to be identified for implementing projects under the JNNURM.
“Different kinds of sustainable urban transport models will be tried in cities identified for the project. The project in Mysore will focus on intelligent transport system using technologies such as global positioning system (GPS) and geographical information system (GIS),” Mr. Gupta said. It would be a “demonstration project” for capacity building in urban transport. The entire fleet of city service buses in Mysore would be fitted with GPS devices. Passenger information system using GPS and GIS was also proposed, under which information on the arrival time of buses at a particular bus-stand would be displayed on electronic display systems put up at the stop, he said.
The agency for installing GPS and GIS devices and other equipment would be identified in the next four months. By March 2011, most of the city service buses would be fitted with GPS devices. The impact of the project on the public transport system will be studied and documented.
The idea was to learn from the project and develop sustainable models for urban transport, he said.
“The model to be demonstrated in Mysore has not been experimented anywhere in the country. The Mysore model may be replicated in other Indian cities and even in some European cities with or without modification,” Mr. Gupta said.
Public transport infrastructure in Mysore is undergoing a massive change after the city was included under the JNNURM.
High-tech buses
Mr. Gupta said nearly 150 high-tech buses were plying in the city and new bus-stands were being developed under the JNNURM. The modernised city bus-stand was inaugurated last year.
Once the SUTP was implemented, intra-city services would undergo a sea change as scheduling and tracking of buses on all routes would be done from a central location, he added.
